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A St. Helens man is in custody today after a grand jury indictment on 20 counts of child sex abuse, including rape and sodomy charges.

The Sheriff's Office arrested Joseph Mace, 55, yesterday after deputies put together a case of child sex abuse that had lasted approximately 10 years before the victim came forward last year. The investigation took several months to be completed. The victim, now 17, told investigators that the suspect and sexually abused her from the time she was 5 years old.

Mace is lodged in the Columbia County jail on seven counts of Rape First Degree; seven Counts of Unlawful Sexual Penetration First Degree; two counts each of Unlawful Sexual Penetration Second Degree, and Sodomy First Degree; and, one count each of Sexual Abuse First Degree and Sexual Abuse Second degree. He is in custody with bail of $1,485,000 (full fail required